ClubMotorsports - Tamworth NH Track - News (good? bad?)

I applaud the idea of building a driving facility like they are trying to do but I beleive this is destined for failure. Not only is the facility located way out of the way (on the other side of Lake Winn.) but it is near wetlands, and is being fought tooth and nail by the town residents. If I am not mistaken, it was originally supposed to be opened by this upcoming April, and yet no work has even started yet (I am fairly close with the CEO of the construction company who won the bid for the job). Hopefully, they can get it passed and into action, but things look terrible for now.

 

No real info other than what you have provided. Just hope i don't see my $$$$ dissappear... but have a feeling...

(sigh)

 

Signed up during the Budweiser thing in NH (?august or so?). He said that if it did not happen fees may be reimbured. Of course if they go belly up there will be no $ to refund Like you, it seems many fokk are waiting to see if it actually gets built. Have a feeling (if) once this thing is built and operating THEN they will see a large influx of memberships. But first one needs to get it built...

 

Agree with Doody, this is probably not a positive development at all. The track has had a much longer time to develop than projected and still is not even fully permitted yet. The last thing the investors in this deal wanted was to take on the operational management of the asset, so something is going wrong.

When they made a presentation to the VSCCA in February, 2003, my two major concerns about whether or not it would be built were (i) lack of permitting at the time and (ii) no evidence of enough funding to actually build it. I guess both have progressed slowly but I think that the business plan won't work unless each of the members carries a pretty big share of the capital and operating costs.

One thing that bothers me is that the original idea was a semi-private track where individual members could spend almost any weekend they wanted driving their cars at the track. Over time they have realized that additional income will be necessary and therefore have been actively marketing it to clubs for club events. Maybe a club event wouldn't make the track completely unavailable for member use, but it sure would restrict the access to the better track layout. Add to that a comparatively short track season in northern NH (unless you count snowmobiling and ice racing), and it is tough for a track to make 12 months of income in 4-5 months.

I agree that more tracks are needed, but this one is the wrong side of Boston/NY to be convenient to enough people to realize its original semi-private plan.

John

 

John, how right you are! There really isn't the population density required (even near Lime Rock) to make the "majority for the Club member track time" model work. I think Tamworth, Chicago, Hampton Roads, Rausch Creek and a number of these places are in trouble because the enthusiasm of the owners/partners goes way beyond the depth of the supporting market. Or at least the failure of the marketing and sales message of these tracks to reach the supporting market... Remember the abortive effort near the Poconos?

VIR is bumping along, but it's been a very tough balancing act for them to not take rent money from outside marque clubs that do all the work in lieu of the mounting human costs and financial costs of organizing and administrating "internal events" for VIR Club members. They're offering about fifteen days a year for ~450 members. Initially, they planned on 1500...

A successful model is Carolina Motorports Park. Thirty-three investors (all drivers), headed by two visionaries who were fiscally responsible enough not to bite off more than they could chew. They also didn't have any "whizzy" web sites and fancy brochures before the paving was down, either...

Happy holidays!

-Peter

 

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Jeez, I requested an information pack last week and didn't get a free t-shirt.

I watched a Tivo'd Fifth Gear last night (don't know when it aired) and they featured the Ascari (www.ascari.net) Race Resort in Spain. The track is 5.4 km with 25 turns and look like a blast to drive. You can use your own car (which you can store there) or "borrow" one of the sportscars or ex-F1 cars. I think the entrance fee was something like ₤100,000, I can only guess at the annual or per use fee. I think they are building, or have built, a hotel and spa, but I'd be happy to sleep in the garage.

Joe